Unique looks in Fort Mason design contest

ARCHITECTURE Approaches differ in competition to remake former S.F. Army base

Updated 9:31 am, Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Photo: West 8

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In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, the design team led by the firm West 8 would include such new features as steps to the bay from the piers, a trio of pontoons (one of which would contain a pool) and the conversion of the central parking lot into a retail-lined event space.

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, the design team led by the firm West 8 would include such new features as steps to the bay from the piers, a trio of pontoons (one of which would contain a pool)

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, the design team led by the firm West 8 would include such new features as steps to the bay from the piers, a trio of pontoons (one of which would contain a pool) and the conversion of the central parking lot into a retail-lined event space.

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, the design team led by the firm West 8 would include such new features as steps to the bay from the piers, a trio of pontoons (one of which would contain a pool)

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, Spain's AMP Arquitectos would convert now-empty Pier 1 into a hotel with a public walkway along the west edge, add a cargo ship filled with hotel rooms in the basin to the east, and use lightweight awnings to cover the outdoor spaces between the former military warehouses inside the center.

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, Spain's AMP Arquitectos would convert now-empty Pier 1 into a hotel with a public walkway along the west edge, add a cargo ship filled with hotel rooms in the

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, the design team led by the firm West 8 would include such new features as steps to the bay from the piers, a trio of pontoons (one of which would contain a pool) and the conversion of the central parking lot into a retail-lined event space.

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, the design team led by the firm West 8 would include such new features as steps to the bay from the piers, a trio of pontoons (one of which would contain a pool)

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, Spain's AMP Arquitectos would convert now-empty Pier 1 into a hotel with a public walkway along the west edge, place a cargo ship filled with hotel rooms in the basin to the east, and add lightweight awnings to cover the outdoor spaces between the former military warehouses inside the center.

In the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center, Spain's AMP Arquitectos would convert now-empty Pier 1 into a hotel with a public walkway along the west edge, place a cargo ship filled with hotel rooms in the

The architectural firm Bruner/Cott proposed a design housing a major marketplace of food and the arts.

The architectural firm Bruner/Cott proposed a design housing a major marketplace of food and the arts.

Photo: Bruner/Cott

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San Francisco's Fort Mason Center would become a major marketplace of food and the arts in a design scheme proposed by the architecture firm Bruner/Cott as part of an international ideas competition for the popular bayside outpost, a former army base.

San Francisco's Fort Mason Center would become a major marketplace of food and the arts in a design scheme proposed by the architecture firm Bruner/Cott as part of an international ideas competition for the

The ideas competition for San Francisco's Fort Mason Center has generated such head-turners as floating pools, a cargo ship filled with hotel rooms and a people-mover perched above the bayside enclave.

Those elements are found in the trio of proposals that will be on display beginning Tuesday at the former Army base and online. They're the work of three design teams, one of which will be selected within the next two weeks to map out a future for the 35-year-old center and its collection of aged piers and warehouses.

No matter which team is selected, the long-range task is to craft an approach that is compatible with the historic controls governing the 13-acre site, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

"We are picking a team, not necessarily a design," said Rich Hillis, the center's executive director and a member of the six-member competition jury. "The aim is to find a team we can work with that also has good ideas, and then start moving forward."

Different approaches

Two of the teams structured their entry around a central idea, while the third took a more varied approach.

The Spanish firm AMP Arquitectos focused on the center's vacant Pier One, treating it as a public space on the ground floor with hotel rooms above and additional hotel rooms filling a cargo ship that would be moored east of the pier. The cargo ship would double as a gesture to Fort Mason's role as a port of embarkation during World War II.

The westernmost pier at the center, Pier One also would see a new walkway added to its west side. The north end of the pier would be extended to hold a hotel spa. The rest of the center would continue to function largely as it does today.

The Massachusetts firm Bruner/Cott, by contrast, would reshape the entire center along a sort of marketplace theme. Pier One would house an international arts market while the ground floors of all four former warehouses on the site would house themed emporiums spilling into covered stalls and tented spaces.

To attract outsiders, the firm would extend the F-Line historic trolley into the center near the water. It also would run a people mover from the bluffs of adjacent Fort Mason to a tall new structure at the north end of the warehouses.

The third team was led by West 8, a firm based in the Netherlands and the only competitor that invited designers from the Bay Area to be part of its efforts.

The West 8 scheme emphasized smaller efforts to activate the entirety of the site. For instance, new steps would lead into the bay on the center's east edge while also showcasing Black Point, perhaps the last remnant of natural bay shoreline in the city.

Three pontoons would serve as movable platforms on the water that could serve as walkways between piers on one day, and viewing platforms for boat races the next. One would include a swimming pool.

On the south, the team extended the ridge of Fort Mason down to Marina Boulevard, with an opening from Laguna Street. The "ridge" would hold a pathway and, theoretically, help attract cyclists and pedestrians who now pass by but often do not enter unless a farmers market or food truck gathering is inside.

Culled from 15 teams

The three teams were selected from the 15 firms that in July expressed interest in the ideas competition.

Each team received a $20,000 stipend to prepare its entry. The winner will begin working directly with the center and the National Park Service to draw up a master plan, one that would pass muster with preservationists while catching the eye of potential donors.

Weighing in

The three entries in the ideas competition for Fort Mason Center are on online at www.fortmason.org. They also are on display daily through Dec. 31 in the lobby of Building D in the center, which is entered near the corner of Marina Boulevard and Laguna Street.

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